Magdalene Perez, Staff Writer

Published 9:57 pm, Wednesday, May 5, 2010

STAMFORD -- In a final vote that acknowledged the depth and breadth of budget cuts made by Mayor Michael Pavia and the Finance Board this year, the Board of Representatives eliminated a mere $65,000 from the 2010-11 municipal operating budget Tuesday and left funding for capital projects and the Board of Education untouched.

The $65,000 reduction targeted the mayor's office, and while board members did not cite a specific reason for the cut, the amount corresponds to the salary of the newly created position of special assistant to the mayor for public affairs, held by Pavia spokesman Bob Lupinacci.

Overall, the board approved a combined $449.5 million budget for next fiscal year, which would require a 2.6 percent property tax increase. Separately, the municipal budget totals $226.1 million and education $223.4 million.

Board President Randy Skigen said the $65,000 reduction is the board's smallest in memory.

"Both the city and the Board of Education came in with very responsible budgets this year, and I think the board recognized that," Skigen said.

Skigen, a representative for the past 15 years, called the Board of Education budget, which represents a 1.8 percent increase over the current fiscal year, "the lowest I've seen in my years on the board."

That the board found little to trim was not surprising in the wake of deep budget reductions made by the mayor and Board of Finance earlier this year. Before presenting his budget in March, Pavia asked all city departments to present scenarios trimming 5 to 10 percent. Ultimately his plan called for 49 layoffs and elimination of some city services.

Later, the finance board cut an additional $1.5 million, adding one layoff, reducing the city health and life insurance reserve by $750,000 and slashing the budget for police and fire overtime by $580,000.

The Board of Representatives' $65,000 cut to salaries in the mayor's office came somewhat unexpectedly Tuesday. Earlier in the evening, the board's influential Fiscal Committee recommended no cuts to the municipal budget, with Minority Leader Gabe DeLuca, R-14, withdrawing a motion to eliminate $103,452 for the director of mandated services, the only remaining position in the Social Services department.

City Rep. Mitchell Kaufman, D-11, proposed the cut during the final vote before the board.

Kaufman said he suggested the reduction because he believed the mayor's office should set an example for the rest of the city in its demands for "doing more with less."

"I thought there would be no department that would be more successful in driving those types of savings," Kaufman said. "I just think that the mayor's office could do a little bit more."

City representatives danced around the issue of whether the cut was aimed at Lupinacci or any other member of the mayor's staff. City Rep. Annie Summerville, D-6, said it would be the mayor's choice how to apportion the reduction.

"I am not voting for this because I want the mayor to eliminate any one person from his budget," she said. "It is up to the mayor in his salary line in the budget to decide how he will live with this cut."

Asked after the vote, Kaufman said his motion was not about Lupinacci, but rather about being "fiscally responsible."

Two Republican members led a final effort to secure reductions to the Board of Education budget, but failed to do so.

City Reps. Michael Molgano, R-16, and Scott Mirkin, R-13, asked the board to shrink the education budget by $500,000, arguing that the savings can be found in insurance and labor contract reserves and that the reduction would not affect the classrooms.

The vote failed 24-14, again with Republicans and Democrats largely split on the issue.

It was the second time in a month city schools dodged a budget cut. In April, Board of Finance Republicans attempted to cut $3 million, then $2 million, from the Board of Education's spending request for next fiscal year.

After finance board Republicans were unable to rally the four votes needed, city Director of Administration Frederick Flynn continued to prod for a decrease, sending an e-mail to legislators suggesting they reduce the school budget by $1 million and listing areas where he believed these cuts could be made.

Like the finance board, representatives can only make a general reduction to the school operating budget.

Superintendent Joshua Starr said he was satisfied with the outcome Tuesday night.

"I am very much appreciative of the support of the Board of Representatives and I appreciate the thorough job that they did in looking at our budget," Starr said. "They recognize the work we did in bringing in a fiscally responsible budget."

In addition to its actions Tuesday, the Board of Representatives this week passed a resolution asking the Board of Finance to restore $1.2 million for city libraries to the budget through the city's contingency fund. Finance board chair Joe Tarzia has shot down the resolution, saying such an action would violate the city's Charter.

The Board of Finance is scheduled to set the contingency fund and the mill rate May 18.